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Oppo Tracking Video Shows Just How Epic Jon Huntsman’s Climate Change Flip Is

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Republican bubble candidate Jon Huntsman nullified two of the things that set him apart from frontrunners Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney yesterday when he told a group at the Heritage Foundation that “the scientific community owes us more” on climate change, and that “there’s not enough information right now to be able to formulate policies.”

He staked out the “sane candidate” territory in August, and as a tracking video shot by American Bridge PAC in late October shows, Huntsman has no wiggle room on this flip.

RELATED: Jon Huntsman Warns The GOP: ‘You Cannot Run Away From Mainstream Science’

Until now, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman has stood out from the Republican pack in a number of ways, most notably in his willingness to buck his party’s creeping disdain for science, particularly climate change science. By flipping on this issue, he not only gives up a key advantage over frontrunner Newt Gingrich, whom he’s set to debate one-on-one next week, but he also joins Gingrich and Mitt Romney as the Three Horsemen of the Flipocalypse.

How bad is Huntsman’s flip, though? He’s not outright denying the science. In fact, he told the Heritage Foundation that he “defers to the science.” Here’s what he said:

I’m not a scientist, nor am I a physicist, but I would defer to science and say the scientific community owes us more in terms of a better description or explanation about what might lie beneath all of this. But there’s not enough information right now to be able to formulate policies.

It’s a little on the weaselly side, but you could argue that Huntsman’s statements Tuesday are still consistent with what he said in August. He believes the science, he just needs more of it to convince him to do anything about climate change.

RELATED: Jon Huntsman Campaign Scores Lincoln-Douglas Style Debate With Newt Gingrich

That stance, however, is a 180° flip from what he told a town hall meeting in Hopkinton, NH on October 18. There, he drew huge applause for deriding his rivals’ denial of science, and made a clear case that the science, as far as he’s concerned, is settled. “I think back on a cancer institute that I was involved in building, and was president of for awhile,” Huntsman said, “if you had 98 of a hundred oncologists who came to you and said ‘We’ve got an approach on prostate, colon, or breast cancer that we think is most efficacious,’ we’d say ‘Hallelujah!’ That’s science speaking.”

RELATED: Jon Huntsman Won’t Kiss Donald Trump’s Ring, Or ‘Any Other Part Of His Anatomy’

This is a real shame for Huntsman, because even though he’s an extreme longshot to win New Hampshire, his organization in that state, plus his upcoming one-on-one debate with Newt Gingrich, left him in a decent position to capitalize on any slip-ups by the frontrunners. He also scored major points by being one of the first, and most aggressive, candidates to skip out on the Donald Trump debate.

It’s a shame he so quickly gave up on the things that set him apart. Some Republicans may not have liked Huntsman’s pro-science ways, but I doubt any of them will cotton to such a glaring flip on such a signature issue.

Here are Huntsman’s remarks from Tuesday, followed by American Bridge‘s video from that Oct. 18 town hall:


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  • Pablo

    Can you show us how many people care? Maybe a collage of all of them. That should be a quick project.

  • Anonymous

    I got an idea. I’ll take sanity, the one I got going for me that none of my adversaries have, and I’ll flush it down the toilet.

  • http://gregingleright.weebly.com/ Greg

    The gravity on the right is ruled by a set of ratios in extreme flux.

  • Anonymous

    Well you’re on here commenting, so that’s one. 

  • Anonymous

    Is the flip-flop as epic as Obama’s was on Gitmo?

  • Gloves F. Donahue

    Huntsman saw the light. If you ever bought a carbon credit, you might be a sucker.

    When Obama quits flying four hours to give a seventeen minute speech and starts riding in a Chevy Volt limo, when Al Gore quits using more energy than a large neighborhood, when Henry Waxman and Ed Markey start riding bikes to work, when Michael Moore starts living like Ed Begley, Jr., then they might be able to suggest changes in others’ lifestyles.

  • Anonymous

    But, but, the libs love Huntsman. How can you show this?

  • Anonymous

    Son, so are you, so that makes two.

  • Anonymous

    Why limit Obama’ss broken promises and lies to Gitmo?

    Here are some more:

    Close Gitmo? End rendition? End warrantless wiretaps? End the Patriot Act? Unemployment not to exceed 8%? Provide a missile shield to the Czech Republic and Poland? Transparency? Health Care debate will be carried on C-Span? His mother was denied Health Care coverage? Shovel ready jobs? No lobbyists in his administration? Americans want higher taxes? Pledge to cut the deficit in half during his 1st term? USA involvement in Libya will be in days not weeks?  Pledge not to rest until the BP leak stopped?  ObamaCare Fee is not a new tax?  His pledge to “immediately” implement “Pay-As-You-Go.” No Earmarks in the $787 Billion Stimulus? 2010:Obama vows to cut huge deficit in half in first term? Obama promises a comprehensive immigration bill in his 1st year

  • Pablo

    Well, I care about as much as I care about Buddy Roemer’s position on Fast and Furious, so there’s that.

  • Anonymous

    But that does not explain the following:

    The intertubes exist as our greatest evolutionary adaptation. This adaptation, as with all evolutionary shifts, is not a uniform roll out. This revolutionary system of data collection, communication and creativity is the product of the elite few (directed by the resources of the worlds most powerful nation state). A skilled subset evolved to employ this innovation well and use it with positive effect. A plurality stumbled grossly onto this glorious terrain, masturbated furiously, glared at the piles of product and uploaded video of testicular harm. The problem is that many lack the skills and understanding to do much more than satisfy themselves through this adaptation. The comments section exist in this context. Those who hope to understand, connect and create share space with those who curse, belch and crap all over themselves. We need a plan for uplift.

  • Pablo

    I thought you did that ages ago.

  • Anonymous

    F&F describes what Obama has been doing to the country.

  • http://gregingleright.weebly.com/ Greg

    Interesting.  I wonder if that fellow has a newsletter I might subscribe to?

  • Anonymous

    I never feigned disinterest, but your point is noted. 

  • RW

    Conservatives may not believe in the Al Gore science of global warming (oh that’s right – the religious are now referring to it as ‘climate change’), but they don’t deny the science of human development.  Liberals are science-deniers on the science of when life begins.  Life begins at conception.

    I think that should be a question at a presidential debate in the fall.  Ask Barack Obama directly if he believes life begins at conception.

  • Pablo

    Until now, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman has stood out from the
    Republican pack in a number of ways, most notably in his willingness to buck his party’s creeping disdain for science, particularly climate change science.

    I love science. I don’t care for multi-trillion dollar scams posing as science, particularly the sort that lead to scientific idiocy such as calling carbon dioxide a pollutant.

    http://tinyurl.com/czg2s6u

  • Lance LaPrarie

    got to love false equivalency. LOL! Nice deflection though. Did you learn that at Beck University? Do you even re-read you posts? But, I’m not surprised though. So typical it’s almost funny.

  • Anonymous

    son, you have always feigned intelligence and gravitas also.

  • Lance LaPrarie

    When life begins is determined not by science but by opinion. Think of how many women will die via a back room procedure done with a coat hanger? Think about that. You claim to be pro life and whatnot. Think of the long term ramifications before you start yammering on about when life begins. Pro life should also be against war, the death penalty, etc……

  • Anonymous

    You might send you inquiry to St. Elizabeths Hospital in DC.

  • Anonymous

    Son, you wrote many words yet not one refuting what he said. Just what was the purpose of your banal response?

  • Lance LaPrarie

    LOL!

    Next you’ll be posting a link to “the great global warming swindle”. (which was thoroughly debunked years ago.  Watts is a hack. He lost all credibility when he was all for the climate dream team until their data backed up data that had already been out for years.  CThe climate change swindle is the Koch brothers funding of all of the anti-climate change science out there.

  • http://gregingleright.weebly.com/ Greg

    Is a former small town meteorologist without a four year degree a valuable source when discussing matters of climate? In particular, one attached to the Leipzig Declaration, the debunked SurfaceStation project and one so easily handled by Sinclair.
    http://www.desmogblog.com/youtube-reinstates-banned-climate-video
    Sources matter.  Evaluate critically dear Pablo.

  • Anonymous

    Of course, Huntsman’s flip came after the latest Climategate emails were released so maybe even he is getting a clue as to the depth and breadth of this massive fraud.

    Or, as Dr. Malcolm Ross once said, “Freeze or fry, the problem is always industrial capitalism, and the solution is always international socialism.” Maybe, like most, Huntsman realizes that the suggested solutions are worse than the purported problem.

  • Pablo

    Phil Jones is not a small town meteorologist, Greg. Reading matters. Look up the words “evaluate” and “critically”.

  • Anonymous

    Obama has defended partial birth abortion energetically ….and if you want to see something that hurts your soul, watch one or two of them posted on the net…regardless of your position during the first tri-mester and 2nd triemester…..this procedure is straight up murder….. and anyone who advocates it is an accomplice….

  • Pablo

    Opinion dictates observable, reproducible biological determinations? Your ideas are intriguing to me and I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter.

  • Anonymous

    he would be about as valuable as a blow-hard, multi-millionare, ex-politician, who openly  violates every principle he preaches right up to buying beachfront property on land he claims will be underwater in ten years 

  • Pablo

    LOL! So easy a kid can do it!  http://tinyurl.com/d4q9sze

    KOCH!!!! ROFLQVZRXMLVD!!!?#^!

  • Anonymous

    What we need to think about is personal responsibility and the 100 decisions we make right up to the point of conceiving a child. Unless your raped or you experience and immaculate conception, you make conscious decisions that lead to pregnancy the same way you make conscious decisions to rob a bank, or jump off a cliff… My thought is that men and women might practice a little bit more restraint, if they knew that there were consequences for having unprotected casual sex.
     
    An since we’re on the topic of “human life”, do me a favor,  get on you tube and plug in “partial birth abortion” into the search engine, watch a few real videos of it…then get back to me from your moral high ground..

  • Anonymous

    Read every comment you’ve ever written on Mediaite (I understand if you can’t remember all the trollings posted on your countless banned accounts.)  Count how many of those are actually refuting a point, using facts and not crude, disproven/unproven generalizations.  I would guess that number is close to zero. 

  • Pablo

    Dr. Ross is spot on.

  • Anonymous

    “Son, you wrote many words yet not one refuting what he said. Just what was the purpose of your banal response?”

    ~stoneparkIV 

  • http://gregingleright.weebly.com/ Greg

    Mr. Jones is not the source in this case.  His quote is included in the article by Watts.  

    Example:

    Pablo, commentator at Mediaite has made an important admission.  He often needs to, “Look up the words “evaluate” and “critically”.”  This simple fact proves that the modern conservative movement is broken beyond possible fix.

    In this case you are not the source.  I am.  Your quote is employed, out of broader context, to disprove a movement of which you are a part… though not the totality.  

    In conclusion…
    “The timing of this particular episode is probably not coincidental. But if cherry-picked out-of-context phrases from stolen personal emails is the only response to the weight of the scientific evidence for the human influence on climate change, then there probably isn’t much to it.”
    http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/11/the-cru-hack/

  • Joke Scareborough

    Here’s a little nugget for the Democrat Activists at Mediaite:

    Battleground-State Voters Leaving the Democratic Party
    By Josh Kraushaar
    December 7, 2011 | 7:45 AM
    President Obama and his re-election team have prided themselves on their well-oiled get-out-the-vote effort.  But a new study from the centrist think tank Third Way suggests Democrats are losing ground organizationally in nearly all of the key battleground states in the general election.
    The group’s analysis found that, in the eight politically-pivotal states that register voters by party, a significant number have left the Democratic party since 2008, with many choosing to register as independents.  Over 825,000 registered Democrats in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Pennsylvania have departed the party rolls since President Obama’s election in 2008, a much more significant share than the number of Republicans (378,000) who have done the same.  Meanwhile, the number of registered independents has ticked upwards by 254,000.

    http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2011/12/battlegroundstate-voters-leavi.php

    I’m proud to say that I am one of those battleground residents who switched their party registration from Democrat to Independent. I didn’t leave the Democrat Party, it left me. Funny how those articles aren’t flying around like they usually do about Republicans.
    I also live in a very politically influential area and when it comes election time, I know how to get things done…just ask my former Democrat Congressman who I helped both into and out of office.

  • Anonymous

    son, you will to try to be original. Only I can be me.

  • Pablo

    That’s above his pay grade. I think that may be the only thing he’ll give that answer about.

  • Anonymous

    Son, probably over 90% have been refuting lib opinions with facts.

    barry’s failures?

    Record # in poverty, on welfare, in foreclosure, 8.6% unemployment, over 300k giving up on employment in one month, 1st. ever credit downgrade, turning Egypt from a long-time ally into control by the Islamic Brotherhood, loss of a top secret US Drone to Iran, NKorean developing a missile that could hit the USA, record debt, record yearly deficits,record suicides in military, etc.

    Barry’s broken promises and lies?

    Close Gitmo? End rendition? End warrantless wiretaps? End the Patriot Act? Unemployment not to exceed 8%? Provide a missile shield to the Czech Republic and Poland? Transparency? Health Care debate will be carried on C-Span? His mother was denied Health Care coverage? Shovel ready jobs? No lobbyists in his administration? Americans want higher taxes? Pledge to cut the deficit in half during his 1st term? USA involvement in Libya will be in days not weeks?  Pledge not to rest until the BP leak stopped?  ObamaCare Fee is not a new tax?  His pledge to “immediately” implement “Pay-As-You-Go.” No Earmarks in the $787 Billion Stimulus? 2010:Obama vows to cut huge deficit in half in first term? Obama promises a comprehensive immigration bill in his 1st year

    libs think Obama is God:

    “We’re here to evolve to a higher plane . . . he is an evolved leader . . . [he] has an ear for eloquence and a Tongue dipped in the Unvarnished Truth.” – Oprah Winfrey

    I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God.” (Newsweak editor Evan Thomas)

    MSNBC’s Witt: ‘I Got Chills’ Listening To Obama Immigration Speech

    Son, your fraudulent post was so, so easy to refute.

    You are indeed pathetic and transparent.

    Try again, skippy.

  • Pablo

    That isn’t an article by Watts. It’s 2 questions and a collection of quotes from Jones and other “experts” saying the things they don’t say in public, such as that what they’re telling the public is not true.

    You can deflect and spin all you like, but that’s just because you’re a true believer and you’re not interested in science, you’re interested in ideological advocacy as a lay preacher in the Church of Gore. But the thing is, Greg, it’s over. The science will remain as unsettled as it always has, but the theory of anthropogenic, CO2-based global warming is dead as a doornail. You don’t even have to admit it, but you might as well start getting used to it.

  • http://gregingleright.weebly.com/ Greg

    “It’s 2 questions and a collection of quotes from Jones and other “experts” saying the things they don’t say in public, such as that what they’re telling the public is not true.”
    –All those words to pretend a blog post by Watts is representative of another, despite the others objection.
    “You can deflect and spin all you like, but that’s just because you’re a true believer and you’re not interested in science, you’re interested in ideological advocacy as a lay preacher in the Church of Gore.”
    –You think poorly. This exchange centers on your use of an unqualified bloggers misrepresentation of a scientists work. Your hyperbole cannot cover the weakness of your logic and sources. Declare a victory you have not earned. Par for the right wing course.

  • Anonymous

    Dude, I didn’t see it but was it really, like, EPIC? 

  • Anonymous

    When your polling at next to nothing does it really matter if you flip flop. He could say the sky is purple and the world is flat and what’s he going to lose? Half of his 1% that he’s polling at.

  • Anonymous

    Numbers don’t mean anything unless you put them into context.  For example, let’s take your quip on unemployment.  Look at this chart and tell me who failed us:

    http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-02-05/wall_street/30088805_1

    Next, campaign promises.  Apparently 2008 was your first presidential election cycle.  You see, politicians make promises to get elected, Republican, Democrat, it doesn’t matter.  If you are naive enough to believe that a candidate will deliver on even a third of those promises, then I should also point out to you that Santa Claus is fake, and your parents are the ones who hide your Easter basket. 

    So you think every media outlet is out to get your kind except Fox News.  Son, deal with it.  Guess who was saying the same thing when W. Bush was in office?  That’s right, those crazy libs, the ones you reference in virtually every post. 

    Let’s try another one of your “facts” shall we?  (Ed. note: This is fun.]

    stoneparkIV:  “turning Egypt from a long-time ally into control by the Islamic Brotherhood”

    Who did that?  President Obama?  Amazing!  So you’re telling me that this whole time he was President, he was also over in Egpyt participating in the uprising?  See, here’s where a fact or two would be helpful, you know, to make a point. 

    We’ll do one more:

    stoneparkIV:   ”NKorean developing a missile that could hit the USA”

    North Korea is already nuclear.  What would you suggest, we just go invade China’s little brother in their back yard?  Yeah, because that certainly wouldn’t lead to catastrophic loss of life [See: Iraq]

    Maybe I waited too long to point out the obvious:  The President’s powers are limited.  If you want to point out every bad thing that’s happened in this country over the course of his presidency, fine, that’s your right and I’ll never be able to talk you off that point.  But if you’re going to use that logic, just remember, 9/11 happened during the Bush presidency. 

  • Anonymous

    Actually it was Frank Luntz, GOP word masseuse, who was the advocate for change to Climate Change….

    And Al Gore’s advocacy of fighting Global Warming doesn’t impact the facts one bit.  You can hate Al Gore all you want, and I’ll even agree he can be a hypocrite, but that won’t keep the climate from heating, or the droughts and hurricanes from increasing.

  • RW

    Nor can humans keep the climate from heating, or the droughts and hurricanes from increasing.

    This planet has gone through climate-change long before humans and will continue long after humans are gone.

    No room on Mediaite for an article concerning the latest batch of ClimateGate emails. Not when there is so much Republican bashing to cover.

  • Anonymous

    It’s true that there have always been heating and cooling cycles, but it’s the rate of change in this current event that is triggering alarm.  Given the fact that 99% of all the Climate Scientists on the planet NOT employed either by oil companies directly or by energy company funded foundations conclude that it is man made emissions driving the warming, it should be a pretty vital concern for everyone.

    Of course, if you can dismiss that fact with a conspiracy theory requiring that these scientists are all in cahoots and chasing mad crazy government and grant money by driving a fake warming scare (kicking back 10% to Al Gore for PR naturally) then sure, maybe it makes it an easier story to wrap your head around.

    And as for the Climate Gate issue, you are aware that the great Climate Gate scandal of 6 years ago was completely debunked, correct?

  • Anonymous

    Republicans will not support somebody who is not a compulsive liar.

  • Pablo

    –All those words to pretend a blog post by Watts is representative of another, despite the others objection.

    The links to the emails quoted are right there, Greg. All you have to do is read.

    I’m not declaring victory, Greg. I’m just telling you it’s over. You can rail and disbelieve all you like. But you might as well start getting used to it.

  • Anonymous

    “Until now, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman has stood out from the Republican pack in a number of ways, most notably in his willingness to buck his party’s creeping disdain for science, ”

    So it’s SCIENCE when they DESTROY THE CLIMATE MODELS SO THEIR WORK CANNOT BE CHECKED/REPRODUCED?  It’s SCIENCE when they HIDE THE DECLINE in global temperature? Is it SCIENCE when they threaten magazines that do the “peer reviewing” and then claim that unless the opposition has been “peer reviewed” it’s worthless? It’s SCIENCE when they LIE? HIDE? OBFUSCATE? INTIMIDATE? AND BLACKMAIL?

    I think not, sir, I think it is another liberal WEALTH REDISTRIBUTION SCHEME pretending to BE science!  Jus’ sayin’. 

  • Anonymous

    Let’s talk instead about something more important instead, like the e-mails just released today by the DOJ today confirming that the obama DOJ was intentionally and illegally selling guns to the Mexican drug gangs with the intention of using the crimes committed with those “American weapons” to attack the second amendment. Subversion of the constitution anyone? Are there trials, convictions, perhaps executions for being accessories to murder and treason in order here? What would your opinion be if it had been a Republican admin that had done this and caused the death of U.S. agents and HUNDREDS of Mexican nationals?

  • Anonymous

    This is not true and Tommy should be embarrassed trying to paint Huntsman that way. Huntsman has always said he believes the scientific community but he wouldn’t allow anything to pass now because it would HAMPER THE ECONOMY. Scientists DO need to come up with more information before widespread legislation is enacted. He has been saying the same thing the whole time. Tommy gets worse and worse with this stuff.

  • Anonymous

    That’s Hunstman’s entire point on the whole thing. Don’t saddle the economy with science that is still developing. His stance is a good one and has been consistent the whole time.

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